Shanti and Aimee: July 2010

A Vacation of Firsts

We are finally back from our trip back East! We had a great time visiting friends & family. Serena celebrated her 3rd birthday while we were away. Also, it was a vacation of firsts! Shilah learned to ride a bike with no training wheels and also learned to swim across the pool with a lifevest. Serena learned to jump into the water and go under (we caught her of course). Unfortunately Serena also got stung by a bee for the first time.
Below are some random pictures from before we left... stay tuned for pictures from our trip!

Serena's Birthday Party!

Serena will turn 3 years old on July 17th, and we had a small party for her today with some family. She started the morning by opening our presents to her, including this cool zebra T-shirt!

Shilah "reading" the card to her little sister:

It was fun seeing Uncle Gabe, Aunt Andrea, Emory & Lily. We had lunch & cake!

Serena requested a green animal cake. So I made tofu-carrot cake with honey-cream cheese frosting (green food coloring did the trick). Animal candles helped complete the theme!

It was also great to see Cousin Tiffany, Tommy, & Sam!

And it wouldn't be a party without Uncle Keith & Aunt Lauren! What a great picture!

Video of the birthday song (notice the animal lunchbox filled with animals):

Swimming

Last week we went swimming at a pool that our friend belongs to. Shilah and Serena had a great time splashing around, and they were both very tired after...

Tiny Town!

We've made a few trips to Tiny Town this summer, with our season pass. The train ride is always a hit! And Shilah always has fun with her friend Sadie.

In the caboose:

Deer Creek Hike

We completed our holiday weekend by going on a hike in Bailey along Deer Creek yesterday. We do this hike every year, and it's great! Serena only needed to be carried part of the way (along with her backpack of zebras), and Shilah was a trooper.

Shilah examining the Colorado state flower, a columbine:

Cosmo had a great time as well:

We had lunch in the VW van after our hike, and the girls enjoyed wading in the creek near our parking spot:

Some nice scenes from our hike:

Here's a beautiful valley we passed by on our drive back home. Serena loved all the horses grazing!

Here are a couple of more articles on the new building at National Renewable Energy Lab that's getting a lot of attention:
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/for-a-premier-lab-a-zero-energy-showcase/ http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15444526

Happy Fourth of July!

Yesterday we went to Indian Hills to see fireworks. Unfortunately it thunderstormed, so we spent a lot of the evening under the tarp and in our VW van. We met a couple of other families there so it got a little crowded, but we still had a great time!